Police are working with travel companies to bring criminal prosecutions against British holidaymakers who make false sickness claims against hotels and tour operators.
Charges are expected this summer as the authorities crackdown on what they fear is a boom in attempts to swindle insurers and holiday companies.
Detectives at the City of London police, which investigates insurance fraud across the UK, are working on bringing cases to the courts, sources confirmed. British holidaymakers could be prosecuted in other countries because European police forces are also gathering evidence.
Britons are seen by Europe’s package holiday industry as the worst offenders for exaggerated or false claims against travel companies and hotels. It is estimated that in Spain fraudulent claims were costing hotels and resorts more than £50 million a year. Tour operators in Mallorca have estimated that claims involving stomach illnesses increased by 700 per cent in the past year.
The UK’s booming claims management sector is blamed for the surge in cases, with some trawling European resorts touting for business. Solicitors have been criticised for taking referrals from claims managers to threaten holiday companies with court action.
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In March, 15 law firms faced investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the watchdog for England and Wales, which feared that they may have breached rules prohibiting paying referral fees for personal injury cases.
Officials at the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), which represents British travel agencies, told The Times that the City of London Police had been asked to make investigating allegedly bogus claims a priority.
Abta is understood to be assisting the detectives. The UK’s travel industry is increasingly concerned that a minority of people bringing bogus claims could lead to a boycott of British-organised package holidays at some European resorts, especially in Spain.
Sources at Abta said that the police were being cautious with the early cases, indicating that they would want the first to be as clear-cut as possible. However, one official was confident that “there will be a prosecution” soon. The official also pointed out that “fraud is fraud in any jurisdiction and we are increasingly confident that prosecutions of British holidaymakers could be brought in Spain or elsewhere”.
UK law firms are alleged to be paying illicit referral fees to claims management companies for access to tourists who say that they have fallen ill.
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For years, the claims companies have targeted potential clients by handing out business cards at overseas resorts. Last year, one company drove a converted ambulance with the logo “claims clinic” around resorts in Tenerife.
More recently they have shifted their tactics to social media, particularly Facebook, where they suggest that people can easily be awarded compensation of £2,000 without written evidence.
One advertisement earlier this year read: “Due to recent changes in law, you can now claim for holiday sickness with or without medical evidence. As long as you can verbally confirm that you suffered for 7 days or more and only ate at your all-inclusive resort you will be on your way to a minimum of £2,000! For each member of your group!” Another said: “This couldn’t be any easier guys and payouts take about 4 weeks on average. Well in time to pay for your family’s next summer holiday!!!”
Recent figures from Abta showed that UK claims had risen by more than 430 per cent in four years. It said that gastric illness claims represented 90 per cent of personal injury complaints, a rise of 30 per cent since 2013.